2?8 I Assembly 



now, May 11, 1852, sixteen inches high, and has a deep, power- 

 ful, and healthy root. No clover in my vicinity has yet reached 

 five inches in height. When we consider the unwonted severity 

 of the past winter, in which the ground has been frozen five feet 

 deep — deeper than ever before known — it is deemed a great gala 

 to add to our pastm-es such an alfalfa as this. The situation of 

 my specimen is unfavorable to fruit growth. We, hope that som« 

 enterprising merchant will import the seed for large plantiugs. 



TRIFOLIUM, TREFOIL— THE THREE-LEAVED GRASS. 



There are more than' forty-six species of it, seventeen of whicfe 

 are natives of Great Britain. The most remarkable are trifolium 

 alpestre — the long leaved purple clover, or mountain clover. Its 

 stalks are stiif, straight, and very simple. It grows in dry, moun- 

 tainous, woody places, in Hungary, Austria, and Bohemia, &g.', 

 but is not said to be a native of Britain. 2d. Trifolium medium, 

 grows in elevated, dry situations, or in woods where the soil is 

 clayey or chalky, in England, Debmark, Scotland. 3d. Trifolium 

 melilot officinalis. The stalk is erect, firm, branched ; grows two 

 to three feet high, loves grain fields and way sides ; flowers small, 

 yellow, pendulous, obtusely oval and serrated. This plant has 

 a very peculiar, strong scent, and a bitter, acrid taste. Cattle, 

 however, like it. Its flowers are sweet scented. It communi- 

 cates a most loathsome flavor to wheat and other grain, so as to 

 render it unfit for bread. 4th. Trifolium pratense (meadow 

 clover), or red clover, is the one most generally cultivated for 

 cattle. It abounds in every part of Europe, in America, and 

 even in Siberia. 5th. Trifolium repens (creeping clover). It is 

 known to be excellent fodder for cattle, and its leaves are good 

 rustic hygrometers, for in dry times they are always relaxed, 

 flaccid, but erect in moist or rainy weather. The alfalfa, or 

 lucerne of Peru, lately introduced by Captain Glen, of the U. S. 

 Navy, grows in Peru to the height of a man, and by an experi- 

 ment made by the Secretary, it bears the last very severe winter 

 as well as any grass whatever. The plan of sowing clover with 

 grain is extensively used, but he that wants a true crop of it will 

 sow it by itself. 



